Don’t raise taxes. Balance the budget. Don’t borrow a bunch of money. Keep a reasonable amount in reserve for emergencies. Don’t impose new fees or assessments. Provide top-notch services and a world-class education. While at it, cut spending.

Those conservative budgeting and public service ideals came into conflict the past year in Collier and Lee counties as local government agencies continued recovering from their tightfisted days of the Great Recession. Then along came Hurricane Irma, colliding not only with our homes and landscape but with the region’s economic recovery.

Today, something has to give. That became evident days ago at a Lee School Board meeting and should become apparent at a Tuesday Collier County Commission workshop.

Collier infrastructure

Urged by the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce to analyze the possibility of a local-option sales tax, commissioners hold a 9 a.m. meeting Tuesday to hear chamber and staff presentations on the issue.

Chamber representatives, while not urging a sales tax increase, reminded our editorial board Thursday that this approach is used in 61 of 67 Florida counties.

We find it indisputable that we face critical public service needs to maintain a desirable quality of life into the future.

Clogged Immokalee Road makes a parallel Vanderbilt Beach Road extension sensible; that’s $90 million as a start. Nearly a dozen bridges built circa 1960 are crumbling. The taxpayer-supported county jail is the No. 1 mental health holding center. Tens of millions of dollars for promised parks east of Naples don’t have a funding source. Medical device manufacturer Arthrex chose South Carolina for a 1,000-job expansion; it didn’t have an adequate, trained workforce here. Housing is too expensive for young professionals.

All that was true before Irma highlighted inadequacies of our sewage lift stations and drainage.

These projects would be “difficult to do without addressing a revenue increase,” chamber chief executive Michael Dalby said.

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Or as County Manager Leo Ochs stated Wednesday in a memo: “Irrespective of whether this (sales tax) proposal moves forward, the board will be required to evaluate additional capital funding either through new revenue sources and/or new debt service to meet the infrastructure and facility needs related to deferred maintenance and growth.”

Ochs' memo outlines that a seven-year, 1 percent sales tax could raise $490 million. Of $70 million yearly, $10 million would be shared annually with cities. Of the remaining $420 million seven-year total, $150 million could be for land preservation and $270 million for public projects.

Imposing a local sales tax requires voter approval. We’re not yet advocating this approach. What is clear to us, however, is that between the choices of raising more money and maintaining our quality of life, something must give.

Lee schools

What’s not in the Collier equation is more money for schools. However, high-growth Lee is a different story; a local sales tax referendum has been contemplated as an answer in Lee, too.

Lee district staff told School Board members last week that there’s a $478 million capital shortfall for the next several years to build new schools and properly maintain or upgrade existing campuses.

To borrow anywhere close to that amount without a new revenue source, the district would be putting tens of millions of dollars more a year into interest payments instead of the classroom. Concentrate just on constructing several new schools, then maintenance costs will increase as current buildings deteriorate with age.

Lee, like Collier, has a half-billion-dollar dilemma. For Lee, it’s a quality of schools issue. For Collier, it’s quality of life.